Patreon Letter 21st July 2018

Hey everyone,  

Jackson here with another Patreon Letter! For it is the weekend, and it is time for Anime. I have recorded two anime podcasts today. I am writing this letter about anime. Anime threatens to overwhelm my life, and my soul.

So let’s get into it. Let’s talk about what we’re all here for. Let’s talk about mechs, the british empire, fascist collaboration and tables. Because I did the thing I’d been threatening to do for a few years now: I rewatched Code Geass as an adult. And as I tweeted my way through it I somehow convinced like fifteen people to join me in hell, which I refuse to take responsibility for. This was your own decision. But considering so many people decided to start watching this ridiculous show I eased up on the tweets so as not to ruin it for everybody. Which means now I can talk about my takes.

Consider yourself warned. All six people worried about spoilers for the anime Code Geass in 2018, this is your chance to leave.

Alright.

I first watched Code Geass in 2008 when I was 14 and the only anime I had seen before this point was Digimon. So, as you can expect, it was basically the most revolutionary work of art my tiny mind had ever seen. It was dark, it was shocking, it was intellectual - but not actually intellectual, because I’d have been bored out of my brain. Just enough monologues about politics and violence that my 14 year old brain was like: fuck. man. shit. this is deep.

If you’ve never watched it, here’s a light summary: Lelouch is an exiled Britannian prince who, after witnessing the political assassination of his mother, and a brutal invasion and occupation of Japan, vows to destroy Britannia because it’s an evil, fascist empire. He can’t really do this on account of being just one dude, so he goes to school until he is the appropriate age for an anime protagonist, at which point he meets a mysterious girl who grants him a Geass, the power to make anyone follow any order he gives.

It does not, however, give him the power to be the greatest strategic mind in the history of warfare. He had that already, apparently.

What follows is fifty episodes of ridiculous mech tactics and supernatural nonsense as Lelouch goes to war to destroy Imperialism for good! Which he does! Kinda! Look, the political worldview of Code Geass is fucking weird.

It surprised me how much the show held up. I had a great time! It's extremely anime junk food but it moves almost illegally fast. A lot happens in fifty episodes, and save for a few incredibly egregious moments where capital A Anime rears its head, most of those things are fun to watch play out. 

The original version of this letter went on for literally 2,000 words of me explaining the story of the show but it was unreadable, so I'm just going to do a few bullet points for my favourite moments of the show as a teen, and my favourite moments now, and we can see how things have changed.

TEENAGE ME #1: Accidental Genocide. Episode 23 features a moment when Lelouch loses control of his Geass and accidentally commands Princess Euphemia to kill every Japanese person. This happens in the middle of Euphemia's pet policy, the special zone of Japan, where Britannians will not discriminate. She believes in equality and offers an olive branch, which is a real problem because Lelouch knows that this is just Nice Fascism, but he can't actively mobilize forces against the nice princess because then he's lost his heroic narrative.

And then he accidentally makes her start a genocide. 14 year old me thought this was the most insane twist that has ever happened in a television show. 24 year old me has cooled somewhat on this, and I think it's one of the weakest parts of the show. It's shocking, yes, but it means the entire end of the show is based on a convenient accident and not an active choice made by a character. Which brings me to,

ADULT ME #1: Zero Requiem. The ending of Code Geass is better than it has any right to be. After spending two seasons at war with Suzaku, who believes that society should be changed from within and not through violence, the pair - almost out of nowhere - suddenly team up and become Emperor and Royal Knight of Britannia. Lelouch spends the final two episodes conquering the world, fighting against his former allies and enemies, who team up for one final resistance. 

He wins, and the show ends with Lelouch on the throne, about to execute all of his friends. But wait! Out of nowhere, Zero appears, sword in hand, and cuts him down with the whole world watching. He dies as his sister realizes this was the plan all along, to force all of the world's evil onto him and sacrifice himself so that the world could live in a world without imperialism. The world cheers for his death as she cries, saying that all she needed to be happy was to have her brother by her side.

Ignoring for a moment that the politics of killing one dude to end imperialism and erase all oppression is amazingly stupid, taken purely as anime melodrama it's a moving ending that brings a show this all over the place together. It is just Metal Gear Solid 3-light, bringing everything to a singular moment where the characters and the audience all feel the weight of another's sacrifice. It's not very original, but it's well executed, and I like it a lot. Your show can earn back all the goodwill on earth if you can just make me cry at the end.

TEENAGE ME #2: Shirley's death. 

Shirley is starring an entirely different, romantic comedy anime. She has nothing to do with the fighting, but she does have a massive crush on Lelouch, and after a bunch of nonsense she finds out who he truly is and is on her way to confess that she will be loyal to him forever. However, she is intercepted by Rolo, who - jealous of anyone else who may win Lelouch's affection - kills her. 

The scene where Shirley dies goes on forever, Lelouch is crying, she is crying, we're all crying, if the ending is good anime melodrama, this is the most trite version of it. They make a nice girl who exists literally only to be hurt and cause the audience to feel sad when they are killed, and then lo and behold, they kill her. Watching now, this was the most boring and awful section of the show.

Watching as a teenager? This shit was gold. I was discovering anime for the first time. Can't believe the girl died! I'll never stop crying! Wow. 

ADULT ME #2: Lelouch and Kallen in the construction yard. So i prefer R2 to R1. It's definitely rougher, plot wise, but it's where all the actually interesting character work is. One of my favourite moments is when Nunally shows up as governor of Japan, and Lelouch just completely gives up. The whole reason for his dumb quest was to make a world where she could live happily (she is wheelchair bound and can't walk, so Darwinist Imperialism and her do not match), but here she is and to make that world he has to fight her. 

So he gets really sad about this and essentially locks himself in his room, while people in his rebellion are dying in his name. Kallen comes to bring him back, and he tries to flirt with her instead. 

Lelouch is extremely one of those anime characters who is to into Logic and Strategy to ever do something as boring as fuck, and so I liked the show pulling back on that as this stupid masculine veneer of superiority, and the second he feels any kind of weakness he looks for the nearest hot woman in his life and tries to find it in her. It's disgusting, and it's pathetic. 

And yes, it's the show taking a break from ripping off Gundam and Death Note to rip off Evangelion for five minutes, but it's good. I completely forgot that they make this critique of Lelouch textually.

Teenage Me #3: Suzaku. Code Geass was like the first time I had watched something where the narrative followed characters on two sides of a conflict, and you gave a shit about both of them, as you watched them fight. I still think this is one of the things the show does well (even if, you know, its hampered by one side being "Genocide Empire" and the other side being "Not That"). 

As a teen I thought Suzaku was a strong ideological counter to Lelouch. Maybe violence is wrong. Maybe you can change the system from within. I was like a little baby having spaghetti letter thematic debates spoonfed to me, it's kind of cute how hilariously empty all that stuff is - especially early on.

As an adult,

Adult Me #3: Suzaku. Once they introduce the fact that Suzaku killed his dad, the prime minister of Japan, to force Japan to surrender early to the Britannian Empire and limit casualties, I think he becomes a great character. Much like how I feel about the ending, CG is a nonsense nightmare when its actually about geopolitics, but as a character melodrama it's good. Shifting from Suzaku from "violence is always wrong" to "a terrified child living with the guilt of a past crime and trying desperately to make some good come of it" is good. It's where he gets good.

I like the show mostly as a story about accepting and shouldering your past mistakes and not letting them stop you from making the right choice today. Suzaku's character arc is the widest in the whole series, because he's a "well meaning respectability politics kid" at episode 1, "literal right hand of the Britannian emperor" at episode 26, and finally "self sacrifical revolutionary" at episode 50. 

It was good to watch play out. I'm glad he ended up okay, and I didn't expect to care this time.

--

Alright, that's it. Remember when this was meant to be the short version of the blog post? It's a ridiculous show, I had a good time rewatching it, its geo-politics are hilariously immature but as an anime with some good character work where, at one point, a million people and a dog put on a mask and get rules lawyered into China, it's good. That totally happens by the way. It's fucking fantastic.

Now that I've gone back, I don't really have any big shows of my childhood to see what holds up and what does not. I've gone back to Star Trek, I've gone back to Doctor Who and I've gone back to this. It's really the big three. 

Onward to the future. Time to watch some actually good anime.

-Jackson